Psalm 103:7 says, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” Let’s go back to the Red Sea. The children of Israel were sandwiched between two impossibilities. They could not go forward nor backward.

God showed Moses His way. He knew what the Lord was going to do. The others were reacting in fear because they faced the unknown. I heard a message by Charles Stanley regarding adversity. He said that we must, “…surrender to the unknown will of God…because we can rest in His trustworthiness…”

God showed Joshua His way. The Lord told him what He was going to do. The others only saw the impossibility of the Jordan River overflowing its banks, and that their pathway into the promised land was blocked. 

Facing impossibilities. Exodus 14:13 says, “…Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord…” Do you know how to be still? Psalm 131:2 says, “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”

Hebrews 12:10 Amplified says, “…He disciplines us for our certain good, that we may become sharers in His own holiness.” 2 Peter 1:3 it says, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”

1 Thessalonians 5:24 says, “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” Herein is our power to do all that the Lord has called us to do. 2 Timothy 1:9 says, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”

As we abide in His word, it deepens our intimate communion with Him. He knows our hearts. He knows our thoughts before we think them. Therefore His way’s draw out the hidden dross-alloy that weakens our faith. Through His divinely orchestrated trials, He wisely designs the fiery trials that will purify and strengthen our walk with Him.

I’ve been meditating on the last part of Psalm 119:168, “…for all Your ways are before me.” The Lord always leads us into His ways as we walk in His paths. Psalm 23:3b says, “…He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

His ways are proven because He goes before us. Psalm 85:13 says, “Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.” His discipline, every adversity, trial, hardship, or impossibility that we face, is designed and orchestrated by Him.

Hebrews 12:11 says, “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

The Amplified described this process as, “…in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action…” Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” Conformity is God’s way to enable us to reflect His character throughout every aspect of our lives. Conformity is pressure that helps us center on Him.

In Ezekiel 37:11 Israel said, “…Our bones are dry, our hope is lost…” Dialoguing in hopelessness will dry up our bones. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.”

We can take a lesson from one with a merry heart. What do they think about which keeps them healthy without medicine? Jeremiah turned the corner from hopelessness to hope. Read his words of truth. 

Lamentations 3:22-24 says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!” I love the exclamation points in my Bible.

When we speak the truth of God’s character, His promises, or His steadfast love, it feeds our innermost being with life. It puts rebar in our sagging hearts. When we start to carry on an inner dialogue that is pulling us down, we can course correct through speaking truth to our hearts. We affirm the truth we read by making it ours through experiential knowledge.

What is your inner dialogue? Are you speaking life words that build you up and strengthen your inner man? I love Ephesians 3:16 in the Amplified. It says, “May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the (Holy) Spirit (Himself indwelling your inner most being and personality).”

When I was young, my dad built all the houses that we lived in. I so remember the rebar. I would walk in and around these steel sticks that would reinforce the structure. They were firmly set in concrete.

We are God’s building. In 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul wrote that he had laid the foundation through the gospel. Verse 11 says, “For no other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.”

Then he went on to tell them that what they added to the foundation would one day be tried by fire. Our body is supported by a foundation of bones. What we think affects our bones.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” What are thoughts that weaken? Negative dialogue is destructive. It is like plaque to the lining of our spiritual heart veins. It causes us to be jaded, hardened and callous.

Hebrews 3:12-13 is very descriptive. It says, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily…lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

James 1:22 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves.” That is what I cherish about Psalm 119. It is all about God’s word. Psalm 119:140 says, “Your word is very pure, therefore Your servant loves it.” Do you love God’s word? Challenging question.

Hiding His word in our heart radically affects our thoughts. It strengthens our faith by feeding our spirit man. It takes our roots deep into the soil of intimate communion with the Lord. We abide in the Vine that bears fruit for His glory. John 15:1-8.

Psalm 139:2 says, “…You understand my thought afar off.” Verse 4 says, “For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it all together.” In 1983 I was given a book to read. The title was something like “Do You Hear What You Are Thinking?”

The good news is that the Holy Spirit dwells within us. We can ask Him to convict us when our thoughts are unrighteous. That way, when He checks our spirit, we can course correct before those thoughts become words.

Memorizing Psalm 119:161-168 has been soul searching. Why? Verse 162 says, “I rejoice at Your word as one who finds great treasure.” Verse 167-168 says, “My soul keeps Your testimonies, and I love them exceedingly. I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are before You.” 

Our faith is not a one time event when we get saved. It is daily and progressive. Our fiery trials are designed to purify our faith of hidden lies that still control our thought processes. The lies are exposed as we bring His word into our hearts.

Fiery darts come from without. If we allow them to penetrate, then they will set up a stronghold in our heart. The battle then comes from within. Remember that any thought against yourself, others, or circumstances are fiery darts. 

We are made in the image of God. Negative thoughts against ourselves or others dishonors the Lord. He orchestrates all things. Therefore a thought against circumstances He has allowed dishonors Him.

Our thoughts become words. James 3:10 says of our tongue, “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.” Ephesians 4:29 says to impart grace to our hearers. That means our thoughts need to be kind.

Our heart is our belief center. Therefore the enemy of our soul wants to control our lives through deception. The way we guard against deception is to hide truth from God’s word into our hearts. Bank tellers in training are always given real money to feel and see, so they can recognize a counterfeit. Satan’s lies are counterfeit ~ designed to deceive his target.

2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.” The Greek for sound mind defines it as safe-thinking. Note from my Bible says, “The word denotes good judgment, disciplined thought patterns, and the ability to understand and make right judgments.”

Are your thoughts disciplined? Fiery darts are designed to attack our faith, and to pull us off course. I think of the word rogue. The darts seek entrance in order to build inner strongholds. 

Our mighty weapon is God’s word. 2 Corinthian 10:4 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.”

Ephesians 6:16 says that our shield of faith is able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. I love Isaiah 28:6. It says that the Lord gives, “…strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.” A locked gate is designed to protect from intruders. We can apply this verse to the entry point into our thoughts.

Psalm 119:151 says, “You are near, O Lord, and all Your commandments are truth.” Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” Romans 10:8 says, “…The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart…”

I love the India missionary’s words. Amy Carmichael would say, “Lord, You are closer to me than air.” The Holy Spirit dwells within us. John 14:17. He comes alongside us to help, to teach us all things, and to bring the things Jesus said to our remembrance. John 14:25-26. 

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Every breath we take, we are breathing in His Presence. Jeremiah 23:23-24 says, “Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? …do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.”

We continually breathe because He is Present. It is His breath that entered Adam’s nostrils that brought life to his form created from dust.